-rAM, 

AFRICA 

w>t 

Jtnuruan  Boarti  of  (!roinmisstonrrs  for 
JForrign  fHi'sstons. 


THE 

East  Central  African  Mission. 

A  CONDENSED  SKETCH. 


1880-1886. 


BOSTON : 

^prtntri  for  tfjc  ‘stmfrirart  BoarlJ. 
1886.  . 


PRESS  OF 

STANLEY  AND  USHER, 


BOSTON,  MASS. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2018  with  funding  from 
Columbia  University  Libraries 


https://archive.org/details/eastcentralafricOOamer 


CONDENSED  SKETCH  OF  THE  EAST 
CENTRAL  AFRICAN  MISSION. 


This  mission  is  at  once  the  foreign  mission¬ 
ary  enterprise  of  the  Zulu  Mission  in  Natal  and 
an  independent  movement  to  reach  the  tribes  in 
the  interior  of  Africa  with  the  gospel.  The 
following  statement  in  respect  to  the  plans  of 
the  Board  in  beginning  missionary  operations  in 
Southern  Africa  appears  in  the  Annual  Report 
for  the  year  1834  :  — 

“The  Committee  have  made  arrangements 
for  commencing  a  mission  among  the  Zulus  of 
Southeastern  Africa,  and  for  commencing  it 
simultaneously  in  the  two  separate  communities 
into  which  that  people  is  at  present  divided.  It  is 
expected  that  the  mission  will  embark  near  the 
close  of  the  present  year,  and  that  each  branch 
of  it  will  consist  of  two  ministers  of  the  gospel 
and  a  physician,  with  their  wives.  The  part 
which  is  destined  for  the  maritime  community, 
situated  between  Port  Natal  and  Delagoa  Bay, 
and  under  the  government  of  Dingaan,  will 


4 


probably  be  landed  at  Port  Natal.  The  other 
community  is  situated  behind  this,  in  the  inte¬ 
rior,  and  is  governed  by  a  chief  called  Mosale- 
katsi.  The  part  of  the  mission  designed  for  this 
people  must  go  by  the  way  of  Cape  Town. 
The  Zulus  all  speak  the  same  language,  and  till 
recently  were  under  the  same  head.” 

The  mission  to  the  Zulus  in  Southern  Africa 
thus  began  fifty  years  ago  at  two  points,  one  in 
Natal  called  the  maritime  mission,  and  the  other 
in  the  heart  of  the  continent  about  two  degrees 
south  of  the  Tropic  of  Capricorn,  called  the  inte¬ 
rior  mission.  And  although  the  latter  was  aban¬ 
doned  as  soon  as  begun,  in  consequence  of  wars 
between  the  Dutch  boers  and  the  natives,  from 
an  early  day  in  its  history  the  Zulu  Mission  has 
cherished  this  hope  with  which  it  was  planted, 
and  has  cast  its  eyes  upon  the  regions  beyond 
Natal,  in  Zululand  and  the  Gaza  Country,  north¬ 
east  of  the  Limpopo  River,  and  Matebeleland,  as 
a  field  to  which  its  labors  might  at  some  time  ex¬ 
tend.  This  territory  is  occupied  by  tribes  kin¬ 
dred  to  the  natives  of  Natal ;  and  the  Zulu 
tongue  is  either  the  vernacular  or  is  generally 
understood.  The  hope  has  been  cherished  that 
the  native  Christians  would  be  drawn  into  this 
work,  and  thus  the  expansive  impulse  of  a  real 
foreign  missionary  effort  be  added  to  the  forces 


5 


which  were  developing  the  mission  churches. 
Various  projects  looking  to  this  end  have  been 
considered  from  time  to  time ;  but  political  com¬ 
plications  and  scanty  numbers  in  the  mission 
staff  and  a  certain  lack  of  zeal  among  the 
natives  combined  to  prevent  any  active  move¬ 
ment  for  many  years. 

At  length,  with  the  impulse  given  to  our 
knowledge  of  Central  Africa  and  its  peoples, 
and  to  missionary  zeal  in  their  behalf,  especially 
by  the  explorations  of  Livingstone  and  Stanley, 
this  long-cherished  purpose  awoke  to  new 
strength  and  preliminary  steps  were  taken.  In 
the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Zulu  Mission  for 
1879  the  matter  was  taken  up  in  earnest,  thor¬ 
oughly  considered,  and  a  plan  of  operations 
adopted.  Rev.  Myron  W.  Pinkerton,  one  of 
the  younger  members  of  the  mission,  was 
authorized  to  make  explorations  in  Umzila’s 
kingdom,  between  the  Limpopo  and  the  Zam¬ 
bezi,  with  reference  to  the  proposed  new  mis¬ 
sion.  After  careful  preparations  he  set  out  July 
8,  1880,  with  one  American  and  one  Christian 
native.  The  expedition  was  wisely  planned ; 
great  kindness  and  help  were  received  from  the 
Portuguese  authorities ;  and  everything  seemed 
to  promise  success,  when  suddenly  Mr.  Pinker¬ 
ton  was  prostrated  by  fever,  and  died  on  Novem- 


* 


6 


ber  io,  and  was  buried  on  the  way  from  the  sea 
to  Umziia's  kraal. 

The  next  year  Rev.  E.  H.  Richards  was  sent 
by  the  Zulu  Mission  to  take  up  the  task  of 
exploration  where  Mr.  Pinkerton  had  laid  it 
down.  Umziia’s  kraal,  the  capital  of  the  king¬ 
dom,  was  reached  October  io,  1881,  without 
special  incident ;  and,  after  a  full  conference 
with  the  king,  the  desired  permission  was  given 
to  open  the  new  mission  whenever  the  Amer¬ 
icans  should  choose  to  come.  It  was  ascertained 
that  Zulu  was  the  court  language,  and  was  gen¬ 
erally  understood  even  by  the  tribes  tributary  to 
Umzila,  whose  vernacular  was  a  dialect  kindred 
to  the  Zulu. 

In  November,  1882,  Rev.  William  C.  Wilcox, 
designated  to  assist  Mr.  Richards  in  opening  the 
new  mission,  requested  permission  to  go  forward 
alone  and  explore  the  region  around  Inhambane 
Bay.  He  found  eligible  sites  for  mission  prem¬ 
ises,  great  numbers  of  people  easily  accessible, 
special  facilities  for  starting  a  mission  upon  a 
self-supporting  basis,  and  an  earnest  desire  on 
the  part  of  the  natives  to  learn  to  read.  Per¬ 
mission  was  given  to  begin  the  new  mission  at 
this  point,  with  the  expectation  that  after  due 
exploration  and  the  arrival  of  needful  reinforce¬ 
ments  a  steady  advance  would  be  made  toward 


7 


the  tribes  in  the  interior.  Mr.  Wilcox,  with  his- 
family,  went  forward  in  July,  1883,  to  establish 
the  mission,  which  has  since  received  the  name 
of  the  East  Central  African  Mission.  During 
this  first  year  Mr.  Wilcox  opened  a  school  and 
maintained  regular  evangelistic  services,  studied 
the  people,  the  language,  the  climate,  and  laid 
a  good  foundation  for  the  work  that  was  to  fol¬ 
low.  Mr.  Richards,  with  his  family,  joined  him 
there  in  July,  1884;  and  in  December  of  the 
same  year  Rev.  and  Mrs.  Benjamin  F.  Ousley 
arrived  to  recruit  the  mission.  It  is  an  inter¬ 
esting  fact  that  Mr.  Ousley  was  born  a  slave  in 
the  household  of  Mr.  Joseph  Davis,  brother  of 
the  president  of  the  Southern  Confederacy,  was 
freed  by  the  Emancipation  Proclamation  of 
President  Lincoln,  and  received  his  education 
in  the  schools  of  the  American  Missionary  Asso¬ 
ciation,  both  he  and  Mrs.  Ousley  graduating  in 
1881  from  Fisk  University,  and  Mr.  Ousley 
completing  his  theological  studies  at  Oberlin. 

After  the  arrival  of  Mr.  Richards,  explora¬ 
tions  were  carefully  conducted  westward  to  the 
Limpopo  River,  and  southwest  to  Baleni,  the 
second  capital  of  Umzila’s  kingdom,  situated  on 
both  banks  of  the  Limpopo,  some  hundred  miles 
from  its  mouth,  and  northward  toward  the  resi¬ 
dence  of  the  king ;  and  by  means  of  these  the 


8 


character  of  the  country,  the  tribes  that  occupy 
it,  and  the  opportunity  for  missionary  labors, 
were  ascertained.  The  region  thus  penetrated 
for  the  first  time  by  foreign  explorers,  and  so 
made  in  a  proper  sense  the  field  of  the  mission, 
stretches  five  hundred  miles  northward  along  the 
coast  from  the  mouth  of  the  Limpopo  River 
toward  the  Zambezi,  is  the  natural  way  of  ap¬ 
proach  to  a  vast  inland  territory,  and  seems  to 
be  thickly  peopled  by  tribes  that  offer  an  easy 
access  to  missionary  labors.  The  three  families 
decided  to  occupy  separate  stations,  enjoying 
easy  communication  with  each  other  and  with 
Inhambane  Bay;  and  in  June,  1885,  Mr.  Wilcox 
moved  northward  to  Makodweni,  Mr.  Ousley  to 
Kambini,  while  Mr.  Richards  remained  at 
Mongwe  on  the  bay.  Four  helpers  from  the 
Zulu  Mission  churches  joined  Mr.  Richards  this 
year,  and  entered  upon  missionary  labor  under 
his  direction,  the  beginning  of  what  it  is  hoped 
will  prove  a  constant  and  important  feature  in 
the  development  of  the  mission. 

The  nominal  restriction  upon  the  privilege  of 
teaching  and  preaching  which  the  Portuguese 
authorities  at  first  were  inclined  to  impose  was 
presently  suffered  to  fall  into  disuse,  and  the 
missionaries  were  left  at  liberty  to  respond  freely 
to  the  strong  desire  for  instruction  which  the 


9 


natives  generally  manifested.  They  gathered 
into  their  own  households  as  large  a  number  of 
youths  as  they  could  find  employment  for,  and 
combined  with  some  stated  service  about  the 
mission  premises  regular  hours  of  elementary 
school  instruction  and  the  customary  worship  of 
a  Christian  family.  In  this  way  they  have  been 
able  to  exercise  a  constant  and  positive  influence 
over  their  pupils,  and  the  impressions  made  on 
mind  and  heart  are  much  more  deep  and  abid¬ 
ing.  Mr.  Wilcox  has  tried  the  experiment  of 
cultivating  a  considerable  tract  of  land,  in  order 
to  draw  a  greater  number  of  the  native  youths 
into  his  more  immediate  care,  and  to  train  them 
in  habits  of  industry ;  and  so  far  the  plan  seems 
to  be  working  successfully.  These  young  people 
have  proved  unusually  bright  and  tractable  ;  they 
conform  to  rules  readily,  acquire  manual  arts 
with  rare  facility,  and  make  rapid  progress  in 
learning  to  read  and  to  write.  In  one  of  these 
schools  a  young  man,  six  weeks  after  he  had 
learned  the  letters  of  the  alphabet,  was  able  to 
set  type,  and  within  six  weeks  more  he  could 
both  set  and  distribute  type,  correct  proof,  and 
print  with  commendable  accuracy.  Another 
learned  the  mason's  trade  with  equal  facility,  and 
a  third  the  tailor’s.  ^But,  best  of  all,  at  all  the 
stations  they  soon  seemed  to  understand  the 


TO 


gospel  and  to  feel  its  claims  on  them  and  per¬ 
sonally  to  yield  themselves  to  the  Saviour.  At 
a  general  meeting  held  at  Kambini  on  Christmas, 
[885,  within  six  months  after  the  separate  sta¬ 
tions  had  been  occupied,  more  than  fifty  publicly 
expressed  their  purpose  to  be  Christians,  includ¬ 
ing  some  from  each  of  the  station  schools. 
And  they  gave  practical  and  cheering  evidence 
of  the  sincerity  and  stedfastness  of  their  pur¬ 
pose  by  renouncing  evil  habits  and  heathen 
ornaments,  and  beginning  to  persuade  their 
companions  to  faith  and  repentance.  This  num¬ 
ber  soon  increased  to  sixty,  and  with  a  few  ex¬ 
ceptions  there  has  been  a  real  progress  both  in 
Christian  knowledge  and  in  Christian  living.  The 
missionaries  have  formed  these  inquirers  into 
classes  for  special  instruction,  and  in  due  time 
hope  to  baptize  and  organize  them  into  Christian 
churches.  Mr.  Wilcox  gives  the  following  trans¬ 
lation  of  the  pledges  assumed  by  each  of  the 
members  of  these  classes  :  — 

MY  COVENANT  WITH  JESUS. 

1.  To-day  I  take  Jesus  Christ  as  my  Saviour 
and  my  King. 

2.  I  shall  always  seek  to  know  that  which 
Jesus  likes,  and  to  do  it.  I  shall  seek  his  will  by 
prayers  and  by  reading  his  Bible. 


3-  I  renounce  the  customs  of  the  heathen.  I 
take  the  customs  of  God’s  people.  To  throw 
the  divining- stones,  to  worship  the  ancestral 
spirits,  to  eat  medicine  for  a  man  who  has  died, 
to  mourn  for  the  dead  by  dancing  or  by  heathen 
songs,  —  I  have  renounced  all. 

4.  I  shall  not  practise  polygamy.  I  will  seek 
for  one  wife  who  wishes  to  believe.  I  shall 
teach  my  wife  and  my  children  to  believe  in 
Jesus.  I  will  not  barter  away  a  child  of  mine, 
nor  of  a  relation. 

5.  I  give  up  everything  which  defiles  my 
body  —  tobacco,  strong  drink,  hemp,  and  fornica¬ 
tion.  1  shall  imitate  God’s  people  in  all  countries 
in  my  giving. 

The  languages  of  these  peoples  have  been 
studied  and  to  some  fair  degree  mastered ;  por¬ 
tions  of  the  Scriptures  have  been  translated  ;  a 
catechism  of  120  questions  and  answers  has- 
been  printed ;  and  some  very  simple  lessons  in 
reading  have  been  issued  from  the  mission  press. 
The  schools  are  large  and  the  attendance  fairly 
regular ;  and  some  of  the  brightest  of  the  pupils 
will  soon  be  ready  to  act  as  teachers  to  their 
own  people.  A  good  beginning  has  thus  been 
made,  and  the  immediate  prospect  is  unusually 
encouraging.  When  properly  reinforced  the 


mission  may  extend  its  work  to  the  regions 
beyond,  and  a  regular  line  of  stations  toward 
the  heart  of  the  continent  be  opened. 


MEMBERS  OF  THE  MISSION  IN  1 886. 


Rev.  Erwin  H.  Richards  . 

1 88 1 . 

Mongwe. 

Mrs.  Mittie  A.  Richards  . 

1881 . 

Rev.  William  C.  Wilcox  . 

1881. 

Makodweni. 

Mrs.  Ida  B.  Wilcox 

1 88 1 . 

Rev.  Benjamin  F.  Ousley  . 

1884. 

Kambini. 

Mrs.  Henrietta  Ousley  .  . 

1884. 

